Spain, Mexico, and the United States

Spain’s support of the Anglo-American colonies during the American
Revolution did not produce lasting cordial relations. The United States was
interested in securing free navigation of the Mississippi River, and the right
to deposit goods at New Orleans before shipment abroad, as well as establishing
the Florida border; these issues were resolved in the 1795
Treaty of San Lorenzo. Within a short time the agreement became null and
void when Spain returned Louisiana to the French. Upon purchase of the Louisiana
Territory in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William
Clark to explore the region, whose boundaries had not been well established
in the treaty. Examine the maps of the Lewis and Clark expedition, as well
as the map of Zebulon Pike’s later expedition into New Spain.

Conflicts over the Florida boundary of the Louisiana Territory persisted,
and Spain and the United States entered into discussions to resolve the conflicts.
Spain, preoccupied with revolutions in Latin America and U.S. military excursions
into west Florida, agreed to the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, but withheld
ratification until 1821. The treaty, often referred to as the Transcontinental
Treaty, turned Florida over to the United States and established the boundary
of the Louisiana Territory.

What were the issues between Spain and the United States that ruptured
diplomatic relations following the American Revolution? Where these conflicts
inevitable? If not, what could have been done to prevent them?

When Zebulon Pike mapped the interior provinces of New Spain, he was exploring
Spanish territory on behalf of the U.S. government. Why do you think he
was sent on this expedition? How do you think Spain reacted to Zebulon Pike’s
expedition into the interior provinces of New Spain? Do research to confirm
or disprove your hypotheses about the reasons for Pike’s expedition
and the Spanish reaction.

Looking at maps from 1694 to the early 1800s, what general statement can
you make about Spain’s land holdings in North America?

After Mexico gained independence from Spain, confrontations between Mexico
and the United States continued on the frontier. The United States declared
war on Mexico in May 1846; within a month, instructions were sent for a military
reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth to San Diego:

…You will repair, without delay, to Fort Leavenworth, and report
yourself and party to Colonel Kearny, 1st dragoons, as field and topographical
engineers of his command.

…Anticipating that the route of Colonel Kearny's command would be
through unexplored regions, your suggestions required, that in all cases
where it did not interfere with other and more immediate military demands
of the service, the attention of myself, and the officers assigned to duty
with me, should be employed in collecting data which would give the government
some idea of the regions traversed.

The column commanded by Colonel Kearny, to which we were attached, styled
“The Army of the West,” to march from Fort Leavenworth, was
destined to strike a blow at the northern provinces of Mexico, more especially
New Mexico and California.

In 1848, the war ended, with Mexico ceding some 500,000 square miles to the
United States. Interested in acquiring still more land for a southern railroad
route across the continent, the United States adjusted the boundary with Mexico
in 1853 by the Gadsden Purchase. The following year Secretary
of War Jefferson Davis ordered a map to accompany reports on a proposed
railroad route. It was not until after the Civil War that the United States
constructed a railroad along the Mexican border to California.

In 1898 the United States went to war with Spain. The collection includes
a strategic map of the war showing the troops and naval vessels available
to the United States and to Spain.

How did the War Map Publishing Company, which produced the map, characterize
the war? If the map had been produced in Spain, how might the war have been
characterized?

According to the directions, how was the map to be used? Do you know of
any similar maps today, provided to track events in the War on Iraq, for
example?

Why is the Philippines shown on the map? What does its inclusion show
about how the role of the United States in world affairs changed in the
second half of the 19th century?